Sponiebr

SOAP: FO load%: 2.4 Veggie / Animal type fats: Beef Tallow, Palm Oil, Coconut Oil, Olive Oil, Castor Oil. 7% Super Fat water discount/ lye solution%: 30% water Acceleration: OH YES Discoloration: Light Tan Morphing: None noted. Fading: Not so far. Other Notes: I adore this scent. It has warm pine, with Christmas spices, orange peel, maybe holly berry, and a tiny amount of smokiness to it. The IFRA certificate posted by Candle Science on this scent shows that it IS soap safe at 2.4%. Candle Science lists the FO as NON soap safe on the label. I called them up and asked Candle Science about the discrepancy. They told me that because it was under 3% usage rate in soap the FO was labeled non soap safe. The Candle Science Representative clarified that as long as you didn't exceed the safe usage rate indicated on the IFRA certificate it was fine for soap. I made that batch in COLD PROCESS soap. It really accelerates the trace VERY quickly. You're NOT going to get any good swirling done in this soap. If you were making a single color soap I think CP would be fine with Christmas Hearth but it DOES curdle the soap. It doesn't quite qualify as ricing but it curdles the soap enough so that it makes a cottage cheese like consistency throughout the bar and especially ON TOP. That curdling is NOT acceptable for my soaps. The curdling effect is strictly aesthetic and doesn't affect the usability of the soap at all. The low 2.4% usage rate leaves most of the sweet, warm, honey like top notes of this complex scent out and you get a more Pine/Evergreen & Holly with a hint of smoke smelling soap. Ok so NOW for some classic Sponie BAD IDEAS... I made another batch at 3.16% usage rate, ( I know it's "not safe"), and at THAT rate ALL of the sweet warm honey like top notes shine through. That rate didn't bother ME personally, but officially "It AIN'T safe". I will be trying this FO in HTFHP because I don't have to use as much FO with HP soap as I do with CP and I think that the 2.4% will still bring out the the sweet warm notes of the fragrance. That is all. Please resume your normally scheduled activities. Sponiebr The Executor of Bad Ideas and Sundry Services

Nice!

IKR!!!!? SQUEEEEEEE!!!! <---- Genuine SQUEEEEEEE!!!!!

THERE SHE IS!!!!! (Oh THIS is gonna start get'n FUN NOW! BUHAHAHAHAHAHAAH!!!! ) o.O Sponiebr The Executor of Bad Ideas and Sundry Services

It's REALLY not that bad... Not exactly something for beginners though...

Thank you both. Here's my current HTFHP formulation: That method listed above is the BEST way to do it, the trick is in the resting of the soap between each step of the process with the SL and FO at the end. Actually, now that I think of it, (its' been awhile) I use the SF (68g) to mix up my micas in... Have fun! (and DO NOT GET HURT) Sponiebr The Executor of Bad Ideas and Sundry Services.

OH MY! MY MY MY... (Sorry 'bout not being around..) I'm here... So HP goes MUCH MUCH better if it's HOT and you use A LOT OF WATER. THe trick to getting it t stay fluid is keeping your utensils/ingredients/ molds HOT while you are putting it into the mold. THE OTHER trick is KEEPING the WATER IN THE SOAP while it cooks. The NEXT big secret is WHEN and WHAT to add to your soap during the process... I USED to be 100% SOLD on the high temp fluid hot process that I learned from Valerie Mosher but TT has CONVERTED me back to CP. The MAJOR problem I had with HTFHP was the months long cure time and how badly the soap would shrink during that period. Right now I have 2 soaps that I use HTFHP with and one is a SPECIALTY soap (pine tar) and the other is a seasonal soap so I can MAKE it up MONTHS in advance so that it will be cured when Christmas finally rolls around. (I'm not joking AT ALL when I tell you I've got to get THAT Christmas soap made THIS MONTH if it's going to be ready by Christmas.) Ok Basically it starts out like this: 38% or 40% water soap formula Super fatted to about 1% or even 0% but I'd suggest newbies going ahead and doing 1% in the soap calc... Now figure out what 5% (not including the 1% you already HAVE in the formula) but what 5% of the TOTAL SOAP Weight would be. Weigh out THAT amount in what you want your super fat to be. (OO is WONDERFUL feeling SF in soap) You see in HP YOU choose what the SF will be. NEXT! I use a crock pot for my HP. Heat your oils to around 178 F... Next make sure that your water and SF oils and colorants in oils are ALL kept VERY WARM ( I put mine in a warming oven) I ALSO put my pyrex measuring cups in the warming oven (usually with the individual colorants in the bottoms with a dip of the oil from the pot to wet them down and get them in solution. (I use micas) You need to save out about 1/3 of your total water content and set it aside MIX in 1 tbsp per pound of oil (PPO) of PLAIN WHITE SUGAR into that water and dissolve it completely. Cover it with plastic wrap and maybe mix in your clay and 1 tbsp PPO into the water as well. NEXT go ahead and dissolve your lye into the 2/3 remaining water and get that going. (I like adding silk to my lye water) After you've got that mess all dissolved and your oils are NO MORE than 180F you're gonna go ahead and soap it. Just hit it with the SB until it's light trace and then cover with plastic wrap and let it sit cooking for about 5-10 minutes. IMPORTANT!!!! DO NOT LEAVE THIS UNATTENDED IT WILL VOLCANO ON YOU. MAKE SURE YOU ARE GLOVED UP AND HAVE YOUR SAFETY GEAR ON BECAUSE YOU WILL BE BATTLING A VOLCANO IN A MINUTE. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED! THE INSTANT it starts swelling beat the HELL OUT OF IT with a spoon and make it GO BACK DOWN. (I like to turn my pot off at this point) YOU KEEP BEATING IT until it STAYS IN THE POT. Once it goes back down cover it and cook for another 5-8 minutes or until it volcanoes again (keep the stuff off the sides of the pot or it'll leave ugly lumps in your soap). At some point here it should go to vaseline stage and when you hit that you turn the pot off completely and let it start cooling down to around 175 to 165 or so... KEEP IT COVERED to keep the water in the soap. as soon as you have about 175F (it needs to be WELL BELOW 200F so anything below 190 is fine for this step) Add in your milk/sugar/clay water (it's hot remember?<---- That's important that it's NOT COLD) Now beat that in with a spoon/dough whisk until it's smooth looking and then recover it. When the soap is around 140-150F you are going to add in your superfat and FO and 1 tsp PPO of sodium lactate. <---- THIS IS CRITICAL TO GETTING FLUID HP SOAP... You'll find it's VERY fluid after a few minutes of stirring it. SO fluid you can use a SB on it again. DO THAT. Next portion out your batter into your HOT pyrex or whatever mixing containers (I know you're NOT supposed to use glass in making CP soap but this is HP soap and it's FINE because there is NO active lye in the soap at this point) Mix in your colors and then I like to layer in the pot so that it's basically an in the pot swirl and you're gonna pour it at this point into a hot/warm mold. As soon as the soap cools to the touch (all the way through) it's DONE and you can start using it immediately. It will harden up a tad over a 2 day drying period and that will improve the lather a bit as well...Clean up can be done with your bare hands (except for your lye container) because all that you have in the pot now is FULLY saponified SOAP. Basically the key is the sugar/SL/SF and FO at the end of the cook and NEVER pouring at less than say 130F... (I've gone as low as 110F but trust me YOU DON'T WANT TO DO THAT) As long as you follow THAT method and those temperature and sugar and SL portions and you keep it HOT and Keep the water IN THE SOAP you should get a REALLY nice looking batch of soap. You WILL HAVE to pour QUICKLY so individual cavity molds are REALLY not going to give you as nice a looking soap as a log mold would. You've literally only got 3-8 minutes to pour and swirl and tamp... Tops are ALWAYS FUGLY on HP... It's just the way it is... It's a little dangerous because you HAVE to battle multiple volcanoes, there's NO getting around it with the fluid hp... Your total COOK time is around 15 min. Cool down will take maybe a half hour from pot to mold. Uh go a little lighter on how much FO you use, you don't have to use as much in HP soap because there's no lye to fade the scent. That's how you do it though. You can get as beautiful and intricately swirled soap with HTFHP as you can from the slowest CP out there. GOOD LUCK! Sponiebr THE Executor of Bad Ideas and Sundry Services.

I know... I KNOW... SOMEHOW Paypal keeps managing to skim a few cents off of EVERY transaction I make. Here's a tip: It's NOT 2.9% of the total transaction it's more like 3.2%... But THEY SWEAR it's 2.9%, but I can attest that I'm short $.07-$.25 on EVERY transaction EVEN when I include the 2.9%+ $.30... I'm in the WRONG eff'n business the real money seems to be in cheating people and calling it a service. Meh, just ignore me... I'm sick and irritable... BUT... IAJS... Sponiebr The Executor of Bad Ideas and Sundry Services.

Ok, So I'm gonna go all typical Sponiebr here and actually detail how I would make this... Ok so would pour out flat sheets of each color of the rainbow maybe 1/2" thick. I'd then cut the strips to form the bands. I'd then stack them up by color to make the rainbow in a flat sheet. I'd use a heart shaped cookie cutter to make single hearts. I'd then stack these up on top of each other to make the column. I'd then take the column and center it in a round tube mold. Now there are 2 ways about the next step. OPTION 1: PERSONALLY I'd pour out a thin, 1/4" think contrasting color sheet of soap and while the soap was still soft I'd roll in colored Jojoba beads into the surface and then line the tube mold with the beads on directly contacting the sides of the tube mold. Then I'd fill the remaining space with white soap. OPTION 2: Just pour in the white surround soap and then after cured I'd hit it with clear M&P and roll it in jojoba beads. MASSIVE PITA to make this as a soap, but definitely doable. Sponiebr The Executor of Bad Ideas and Sundry Services.

OK! So.... I've been "busy" again. : D (Yeah, yeah... I know.) I've made a shrink wrap "system!" Why? It uses a standard 21" L Bar impulse sealer and a special "deck" to bring the work surface up to the same height as the heating element. Only used a tad over 1 sacrificial 2x4x8' of SPF and a 24"x 36" section of lauan door skin. I'm using the National Shrink Wrap perforated 18"x 500' polyolefin as my wrapping material. Cost was approximately $171.99 with the heat gun. (probably less but I'm being generous with my estimate) It works! (It works FAST too...) I still have to sand it and put a finish on it (that sort of plywood warps like hell if you don't finish it on BOTH sides.) Here's the video of it in action... https://vimeo.com/328298161 Slainte, Sponiebr The Executor of Bad Ideas and Sundry Services.

Ok... I've been, uh... "distracted" lately by a very "distracting" woman... I JUST REALIZED you have Serendipity's Chance in that bag... (Face palm) Do you think, AT ALL, that the mastic from the mailing labels that I use for my soaps would discolor or DOS the soap where it touches the soap? I mean a single wrap on these would be far easier and faster. Until I can get the paper bag thing sorted out I'm going to have to shrink wrap. I HATE doing this because it's rather counter to what I want for my brand, but the paper cigar bands and then the labeling and then putting a tape band around them or a PVC shrink band around them is just taking TOO DAMNED long.

I've literally been looking for a kraft paper bag for my soaps now for over a year and I haven't even found ONE that will let me orient the soap the way I want it and not look all sloppy on the outside. On the flip side I was able to get all of my upcoming orders shrink wrapped, labeled, over wrapped, and ready to ship TODAY, and that NORMALLY take a minimum of 2 days. The only think about the bags I worry about is the labels flagging I HAVE to secure the label down with tape or something or they ALWAYS peel up at the outside edges.

I personally prefer grams but set it to the smaller of whatever standard you choose. If using English set it to ounces, if Metric set it to grams. I convert all of my formulations from pounds to grams.

THIS! 100% MAN that would be a PITA to make!

That's 100% TT right there! She's BRILLIANT. It was the most BRILLIANT idea I've seen for wrapping soaps!

I was told by the sudsy masses over on the OTHER place that the adhesive would discolor or possibly oxidize the soap. But even if I did they're not sticking to kraft paper bands now I don't think they'll stick to soap. The film was delivered today. And the sealer will be here soon. I shall SOON see... But yeah... I'd RATHER do the bags like you. QUESTION: Mine aren't tall and skinny they're short wide bars do you think it matters a flip if they're oriented correctly in the bags? Because I have LOTS of kraft paper bags that would hold my soaps "SIDEWAYS" just not oriented the way I make them.

Trapp... Set the unit button until it only shows OZ. not pounds. Then calculate the total ounces 1 lb. 9.4 oz would be 25.4 oz...

I'd look'm dead in the eye, and say "Liposuction clinics. I got the idea from a movie I saw..." GTFOH! ETA: In all fairness I DO tell them I find whoever has the LOWEST price on the internet or retail store at the time I need the materials and WHOEVER that is gets my business. Basically whatever or whoever is on sale THAT week. And THAT's the honest to God truth.

Ok, my bars are now 3.5"x 3"x 1" and 3.75"x2.5"x1" The vast majority of my bars are the latter sizing group. That's my mainline mold. The first size group is for the custom/seasonal/special request/test batches.

Actually no... They're wider and taller now. I mean most of them are wider and taller. I'll get you some dimensions.

I just bought some perforated 18" polyolefin from National. I was really looking HARD at their system. It LOOKS good. I do absolutely NO in person sales so people can't sniff my soap right on the spot. I can't seem to find a glassine or even a paper bag that will fit my soap bars well. I would prefer your system of wrapping the bars frankly but I can't seem to find any damned bags. I think what I will try is to take a 20" L bar sealer and make a wooden deck for it where the roll of film is at one end and the sealer fits down in a little nook so that the heating element is flush with the deck. Seal the end of the plastic. Stuff with a line of bars. Slide bars to snug up against the sealed edge. Place over impulse sealer. Close bar and seal. Cut sock'o suds loose. Then seal the individual bars and cut them loose. How does that sound to you?

I've HAD it... DONE... OVER IT, NOT gonna PLAY anymore.... What the hell are you on about NOW Sponie? Cigar banding soap! And then having to put the lables on and then having to put tape or PVC shrink bands AROUND the labels to keep them from "flagging" at the ends. THAT'S WHAT I'm on about! So is there anyone else out there using polyolefin shrink wrap systems? If so, what gauge and system are you using? Does anyone have one of these systems used that they want to sell? I'm talking about the polyolefin systems which are the ones that have the plastic wrap feel plastic to them but will shrink down around the bar when a heat gun is put on them. I've got a TON of soaps I'm going to have to be wrapping here VERY soon and I need to figure out a decent system for getting these banged out. My idea being to shrinkwrap the bars and then put my labels right onto the plastic wrapped soap and then, if needed, shrink wrap another layer over that one. Annnnnnd.... GO! Sponiebr The Executor of Bad Ideas and Sundry Services.

Stephanie Graham of Micas & More has a stamp that she puts on the outside of her priority mailboxes which is ABSOLUTELY BRILLIANT! It reads: "This box is happy to see you too!" BRILLIANT! Sponiebr The Executor of Bad Ideas and Sundry Services.

Well, all of these people are agreeing with one another so I'll just go ahead and agree with all of them too. I mean a candle isn't like food or a soap and to be honest I wouldn't even list what was in MY soap if I didn't have to. Come to think of it I DON'T have to list what's in my soap, but I do list it because people are all fussy about the stuff they're rubbing all over their naughty bits. I don't get it, I mean it's not like they're going to be putting it their mout... Oh... MY! What a corner I've painted myself into! Never mind! It ALL MAKES SENSE now...